Effects of Life Background on Chinese College Students' Cognition about Animal Welfare

Abstract

In recent years, with animal welfare in China gaining more clout, people are paying more attention to animal welfare. In order to know the level of cognition about animal welfare in Chinese college students and whether their life backgrounds affect the cognition, a nationwide random survey was conducted to evaluate and analyze the status of animal welfare cognition through means of WeChat questionnaires. The results show that college students have a certain degree of awareness of animal welfare, but there were significant differences among students with different life backgrounds. There were different valuations for laboratory animals, companion animals, farm animals, wild animals, and animals used for entertainment. Overall, the college students from or studying in China's developed regions had a more accurate cognition about animal welfare than those from developing regions or underdeveloped regions. The valuation of college students from urban areas was higher than that from rural areas, and the valuation of college students who had experience keeping a pet was higher than that of those who had never had a pet. Interaction was only shown between the growth environment and the growth regions on opinions towards stray dogs. More students from urban areas support killing stray dogs, but a significant difference was only shown in developed regions (P<0.05). In conclusion, socioeconomic background affects Chinese college students' cognition about animal welfare.

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